CNN presents hour-long special documentary, Addiction - Life on the Edge

Airdates: Indian Standard Time Sunday April 19 at 0730hrs and 2330hrs IST Dr. Sanjay Gupta follows the lives of four addicts who have been through rehab as they try to maintain their tenuous hold on sobriety: a younger writer, a teenager, a mother and a retiree. During the year CNN followed them, one of the four relapses, showing just how pernicious addiction can be.

As Dr. Gupta reports, researchers using the latest imaging techniques can show how addiction affects the brain, actually changing the response to pleasure and pain. The new brain science has led to the development of prescription medications for addicts and questions about traditional residential treatment, which relies heavily on the 12-step model developed by Alcoholics Anonymous — asking participants to admit they’re powerless over addiction and turn over their lives to a higher power.

“Addiction - Life on the Edge” takes you behind the scenes at Hazelden, one of the largest rehabs in the world, and Promises, the rehab of choice for celebrities. The documentary also takes you inside the walls of one of the growing number of recovery high schools in the United States and inside the life of a meth addict and his family.